Baseball Hall adds members

NASHVILLE — Jacob Ruppert brought Babe Ruth to New York, built Yankee Stadium and transformed the pinstripers into baseball’s most dominant power. He did so much, many people just figured the owner called the Colonel was already enshrined at the Hall of Fame.

“We were surprised to learn he wasn’t,” former Yankees player and executive Bob Watson said.

Watson and a 16-member Hall panel changed that Monday, electing Ruppert, longtime umpire Hank O’Day and barehanded catcher Deacon White for their excellence through the first half of the 20th century.

The trio was picked from by the Hall’s pre-integration panel — part of what once was known as the Veterans Committee — and gave the shrine exactly 300 members.

“The family is so thrilled,” great-grand-nephew K. Jacob Ruppert told The Associated Press by phone. “His mark is now indelible.”

The Hall announcement was made at baseball’s winter meetings. Induction ceremonies will be held July 28 in Cooperstown, N.Y..

Ruppert and a partner bought the Yankees in 1915 and quickly turned them into a force. Under Ruppert’s reign, the Yankees bought Ruth from the Boston Red Sox and presided over the club’s first six World Series championships.

O’Day umpired in 10 World Series, including the first one in 1903. He worked 35 years and made one of the most famous calls in the game’s history, ruling Fred Merkle out in a 1908 play that long lived in baseball lore as “Merkle’s Boner.” He was the 10th umpire to go into the Hall.

White played from 1871-1890, starting out as a catcher without a glove and later moving to third base. He was a three-time RBIs leader, once topping the league with 49 RBIs.